1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dental abutments, and more particularly, to the type that can be readily used with most implants available today.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of dental abutments have been designed in the past. These abutments are designed to correct the lack of parallelism that typically results when dental implants are secured to a patient's jaw. One approach has been to develop a line of abutments designed to correct the lack of parallelism over a predetermined range of angles. This approach, however, required a considerable invention and for a predetermined number of correction of angles.
None of these devices, however, provide for an abutment that can be readily conformed to correct the lack of parallelism by merely positioning a prosthetic engagement assembly over the spherical portion of an implant abutment assembly. This approach gives a dental surgeon a wide range of angles for positioning the prosthetic engagement assembly and, more important, he or she can position it on site with minimum discomfort to the patient.